Chapter Sixteen

I was standing in a field. Alone.

I twirled around, and all I could see was more field, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Something was wrong.

There was no Lisa and no grand house. The urge to cry or run was clawing at me from inside. I tried to calm myself down as I walked straight ahead of me, searching for signs of life. I heard a sound coming from ahead but wasn't sure what it was. It was a clicking noise that I couldn't distinguish.

I walked until I could hear it clearer, and I knew exactly what it was—horses.

The clip-clop of hooves was dead ahead of me. They sounded like they were actually coming closer to me, so I stood to the side and hoped they held a nice stranger. A stranger that wasn't going to notice a girl out of her time-period.

I looked down at the clothes Tarryn and I had picked out before I came. Tarryn read a chapter last night that explained the important of dressing the part. Guess I totally failed that part previously, but it wasn't too late.

The flowy dress we found at Goodwill fit me well, but with the summer sun bearing down on me, I was not feeling it. I was worried the sweat was ruining my whole proper lady look.

I looked up to see two brown horses coming through a small road that was completely hidden between a row of trees. Behind them they carried a large brick red coach. I hoped silently that it didn't hold anyone that would do me any harm as it neared.

I waved my hands at the driver and he waved back. He approached slowly, reigning in the scary horses, and greeted me with a smile.

"Greetings, my lady," he said politely with an English accent.

The doubt I had earlier about my whereabouts were erased; I was back in England.

"Uh …" Crap what was I supposed to do again? Tarryn's words echoed through my frazzled brain. Curtsy and smile bashfully.

Even though I was awful at it, I did as she instructed and said, "Greetings, sir. I'm looking for an estate and seem to be turned around. I'm looking for the Manoban's."

I wasn't acing conversation in this era, that was for sure. I just prayed he would point out the way to Lisa's house and save me more embarrassment. I silently thanked Tarryn for putting the hideous hat on me that she found on a mannequin in the Goodwill. I hated it when we bought it, but it was hiding my red cheeks at the present moment and that was a good thing.

"Manoban, well that's an hour that way, my lady. May I be of service and give you a ride in my coach?"

That voice. That was not the driver. I looked up and saw Lisa hanging halfway out of the coach, holding her hand out to me. I ran to her before I had time to think about my actions and grabbed it. She kissed it gently with those full lips of her and welcomed me inside her ride. I rubbed my hands on the blue velvet seats.

"Very fancy," I exclaimed. I looked up at her eyes as they searched my face like she was memorizing each and every part of me.

"How long has it been?" I asked. I had arrived at different times in her life before, and I didn't expect anything different this time around.

"Only one week. I must admit it's been dreadful. I awaken and search for you everywhere, expecting you to be there. When I go to sleep, I'm full of sorrow that you've never arrived."

My heart stretched at her words and I wanted nothing more than to kiss her beautiful mouth.

I leaned over and gently placed my lips on hers—feeling an electric pull inside me that I never had before. She ran her fingers ever so softly across my cheek as she leaned into me. I didn't know what I expected with a kiss from Lisa, but it wasn't this. I didn't think she would kiss me back. I also didn't think she would press into me with such fervor. Before things got too heated, she pulled back and my stupid hat fell from my head.

"I'm sorry, Jennie. I shouldn't have," she said. I stopped her from saying anymore with a quick kiss.

Her smile was so big it lit up the coach. "I want to treat you with respect. It was never my intention to be so forward."

I could eat her up, she was so adorable.

"I know that, Lisa. But where I'm from, a kiss is respectful. I have missed you. I don't understand my feelings for you yet, but I know that I think of you all the time."

She took my hand in hers and kissed it. "I was just riding in this dreadful coach thinking about you and then, well, here you are."

I sat back into the plush seat and wondered where Lisa was headed. Then it dawned on me—America. She was packed and ready to leave. I looked behind us and saw a large trunk strapped to the coach.

"You're going to America, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"I thought that I wouldn't get to see you before I left. I was terribly worried. I think I gave poor Nancy grief that she couldn't handle before I set off. In her words I spoke so much of you that she was going to lose her mind." She smiled again and I giggled like a silly school girl with a crush on the hot, new student. "How long will you visit this time?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know how long, Lisa. I don't want to think about it though. I just want to spend time talking to you." I wanted to make up for lost time. "I figured out why I am able to visit you, though."

"Oh?"

I shifted in my dress and tried to get comfortable. It was impossible in this awful heat.

"It turns out I am part of a group of Librarians with a rare talent to travel through books," I began, leaving out the words magic and science for fear that he would frighten and push me from the coach. "We have a duty to meet with influential people and document our time with them. Actually, by being here with you, it's all being copied to text right now."

Placing her hand on her chin, she seemed to ponder this news. It was a lot to take in, especially for someone who wasn't used to this sort of thing. My era was a little bit more open to possibilities of this kind, but not hers. The people of her time were a bit more sheltered.

"So, I'm to be influential?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"Well, I suppose you are. But I haven't really Googled you yet, so I don't know much about your future or why."

"Googled?"

"Uh …" How was I supposed to explain that? "It's a place where you can find information on pretty much everyone and anything."

She nodded and said, "So it's like research. I understand. Forgive me, Jennie, but why me? Why not my father?"

Why didn't she believe me? Lisa's father, surely, was an important man, but I wasn't sent here for him. Lisa had gone on and on about her dad and how she had to do what her father told her.

"Lisa, if he was the person I was meant to meet, I would have. I researched my role in this crazy time-travel talent, and I'm here for you and you alone."

She shook her head and looked away from me and out at the trees beyond. Her expression confused me. I hoped she wasn't unhappy with me.

"I'm sorry, Lisa" was all I said.

"No, Jennie," she said as she looked me in the eyes again. "Please don't be sorry. I just don't understand. Jackson Manoban is a man of good faith and honor, and I must follow in his footsteps. Perhaps I do become what you say. For now, tell me more about what you've learned. I do not know how much time I have with you."

I nodded, happy that she wasn't angry with me for what I said. Sometimes I had a real talent to put my foot in my mouth.

"So your name is really Lisa then?" It was rhetorical really, because I remembered hearing this before.

He nodded.

"And I go by Jennie, but you insist on calling me Ms. Kim. Why is that again?"

She was silent, thinking for a moment, and she said, "It's proper to call you Miss Kim, but your name is stunning, like you."

I wanted to kiss her again, but I restrained myself. Trying to be a good girl was difficult. I surely could not fit in well in this time period. So, I told Lisa all about the library opening and how Tarryn was helping me. I also told her about meeting my great-grandmother, and before I knew it I could smell the ocean. I looked up to see a port in front of us. Lisa pointed out toward the sea at a large boat and said, "That will take me to America."

The boat was nothing like any I'd ever been on. Instead it looked like the damn Titanic, and I worried that it was going to go down with Lisa on it. Thoughts of Lisa clinging for life on the side of a sinking ship made me sick to my stomach. It couldn't be sturdy and handle such a trip, could it?

"That's the Lydia, and she's going to take me to Maine," she said as the coach stopped and the driver hopped down. I was thankful that the Lydia wasn't actually the Titanic. Maybe Lisa would safely arrive in Maine after all.

The driver unstrapped the large trunk and began hauling it around to hand to a few men who would load it on the ship.

"I'm afraid that I only have one ticket, Jennie." She held up a piece of paper as proof. "I'll make sure that my driver takes you back to the estate. You will be safe with her."

Oh. I couldn't travel with her.

"That's okay. I'll be fine," I lied.

Was I going to be fine? I would be stuck here watching the Lydia sail away with her and hoping that I got out of the book in time. I looked around at the shifty crowd standing by the docks and I suddenly didn't want to get out and walk around.

"Lisa," I said nervously. "I can't exactly be seen like this."

I gestured to my crappy attire that didn't fit in with the style at all. It hadn't gotten past me that I might be the only woman on the docks that day.

"Like what…oh dear. You're correct." She placed the hideous hat on my head and it fell awkwardly over my face. "Well, that didn't help did it?"

"No. It didn't." I took the hat and threw it out the window. Lisa laughed, and I realized I loved the sound of it.

"At least you're not wearing those …, what do you call them? Oh! Yoga pants." The way she said it made me laugh hysterically.

"I will never get used to you, Jennie. You are so surprising. I wish I could take you with me on my journey," she said, grabbing my hand in her.

I did too. But we both knew that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't sure if I'd see her after this.

Don't think like that.

I knew darn well that Lisa's story didn't end here. She was important and her story was just beginning.

The ship made an awful sound, causing me to jump.

"Master Lisa, the ship is boarding. I will take the lady to her destination, but you must go," the driver insisted.

Lisa stepped out of the carriage and said, "Take her back to the estate, Charlie."

Charlie nodded.

Lisa leaned into the window and placed her two hands gently on either side of my face, caressing it softly with her thumbs. Her touch did all the right things, and at that moment it made me want to do all sorts of things—the sort of things to make Lisa blush.

Remembering the photo I promised Tarryn, I pulled my cell out of a small pocket.

"I want to show you something amazing," I said as I held it up and snapped a quick picture of her smiling face. I turned the screen and showed her herself, smiling back.

"Wow, what is that? Is that…is that me?"

I nodded and explained, "It's a cell phone, but it captures pictures too. It does a lot of amazing things actually. But I wanted a photo of you."

"Will I see you again?" she asked. Her eyes looked so sad and her mouth almost pouty. It made me want to stowaway in her luggage and travel with her. Well, to be honest I didn't do ocean travelling, due to my intense sea sickness, so book traveling was probably more my taste.

"I hope so." I couldn't make any promises. I didn't know if I would see her again. Traveling was so unpredictable. I wouldn't know at which point in her life that I would be seeing her next. Would she be married with children or still the young vibrant Lisa? That was the awful thing about this whole talent.

While I was happy it had brought us together, I couldn't help but think about how it would rip us apart. I had to end this before anything really happened, to spare my heart and her. It was the best thing to do. Nothing good could come of a love affair with her. She was someone that I could never be with.

I had never felt this way for anyone in my life, and the mere fact that I fallen for someone that lived over a hundred years before me was so messed up, it was ridiculous. Of course I would fall for the unattainable person. I was so afraid of commitment that I couldn't be with anyone from my own time.

"Lisa," I started. How could I tell her that we had to end this thing between us? It wasn't going to be easy, especially with the way she was looking at me at that moment. "I think that we should part ways—"

As the boats loud horn sounded again so noisily, it drowned out the rest of my words. She nodded and kissed me softly. I knew then that she hadn't heard what I said by the gleeful look in her eyes.

"Until next time, Jennie Kim!" she called over her shoulder as she walked away from me. It was then that I felt the tug from of my time pulling me back. So I let go.